Amelia+Stumbras

On May 30, 1929, 19-year-old Amelia (or Anela) Stumbras died from complications of a criminal abortion.

Though the coroner pushed for prosecution, the guilty party was never identified or apprehended.

Given how little information I have about Amelia's death, the only preventability factor is the obvious one of making sure that women know that they are not abandoned to the abortionists. Women who are offered loving support aren't nearly as likely to resort to abortion as women who are left to believe they have no other options. As Planned Parenthood Medical Director Mary Calderone noted in 1960:

"[Planned Parenthood Abortion in America] Conference members agreed, and this was backed up by evidence from the Scandinavians, that when a woman seeking an abortion is given the chance of talking over her problem with a properly trained and oriented person, she will in the process very often resolve many of her qualms and will spontaneously decide to see the pregnancy through, particularly if she is assured that supportive help will continue to be available to her." ("Illegal Abortion as a Public Health Problem," American Journal of Public Health v. 50 no. 7,July 1960)



Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see [|Abortion in the 1920s]. For more on pre-legalization abortion, see [|The Bad Old Days of Abortion] Source:


 * [|Homicide in Chicago Interactive]

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